Treasury Secretary, US Treasury
Exclusive Interview with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at the 2026 Reagan National Economic Forum
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About Scott Bessent
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has promoted the Trump administration’s economic record, citing strong job growth and tax policies. In a June 2026 interview, he said the U.S. created 900,000 private-sector jobs since President Trump took office and described the past three months of job creation as “a blowout,” with 170,000 to 180,000 jobs per month. He attributed a manufacturing “rebirth” to tariffs and tax policy, and said core inflation had surprised on the downside at 2%. Bessent also expressed confidence that energy prices would decline once the conflict with Iran is resolved, stating that oil was already 25 to 30 percent off its peak. Bessent joined First Lady Melania Trump in June 2026 to announce “Fostering the Future” accounts, a savings and investment vehicle for foster youth. He described the accounts as part of the broader “Trump accounts” program, which provides a $1,000 seed contribution from the Treasury for every child born between January 2025 and December 2028. Bessent said that, assuming historical growth rates, the deposit could grow to at least $500,000 by retirement. He stated that the program aims to give foster children the same opportunity for asset ownership and long-term wealth building as other children, and that it would help ensure their futures are shaped by possibilities rather than circumstances. During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing, Bessent defended the administration’s tax cuts, including provisions eliminating taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security benefits, and said 62 million Americans claimed at least one of those provisions. He also faced questions from Democratic lawmakers about the economic impact of tariffs, the IRS settlement with President Trump, and the administration’s budget deficit projections.
Transcript (18 segments)
✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
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Interviewer0:00
Mr. Secretary, welcome to the Reagan Library and to the Reagan National Economic Forum.
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Scott Bessent0:04
It's great to be here. I'm excited. I've never been to the Reagan Library. I'm a big fan of the president.
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Interviewer0:08
Well, we are fans of the president, too, and it's a huge honor for us as we convene the stakeholders of our American economy to have the Secretary of Treasury address. So, we're very excited for your remarks. I thought we'd just talk about a few things. Actually, start with you did yesterday, an amazing press conference in the White House, and there you talked about tax cuts as well as the Trump accounts. Can you talk about how those contribute to economic growth?
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Scott Bessent0:33
Yeah, it was an honor to do the press conference, and as we all know, President Reagan was one of the great communicators. So, communicating to the American people, and President Reagan's tax cuts... Art Laffer, who was one of the architects of those, has told me those President's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and then the one big beautiful bill that we passed last July 4th, have really been driving the US economy. And you know, I can say it's private sector growth. With full expensing they have for businesses, for plants, for their facilities, we give the businesses the incentives to invest, and then they decide what they invest. It's the opposite of command and control. And that's why we saw the Reagan boom. That's why we're seeing the Trump boom.
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Interviewer1:23
I love that our Reagan National Economic Survey, you may have heard about it. We're trying to talk about it a lot. One of the outcomes of that survey is that 81% of Americans in this survey say that government is part of the problem, and is not the solution. Reagan asked.
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Scott Bessent1:38
Well, I remember he had the saying, one of the most worrisome statements is, 'Hi, we're from the government. We're here to help you.'
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Interviewer1:47
Exactly. Well, appears to be the sentiment of eight out of 10 Americans. You're going to give a speech, you're going to address the Economic Forum here shortly. The title of the speech is 'While America Slept'. Can you share with us what are the kind of takeaways you want those in the room and those listening around the world to that speech?
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Scott Bessent2:02
Yeah, it is that for the past 20, say 25 years, we somehow let this notion get away that we could have prosperity without security. And President Reagan was a great national security champion. He upped the defense budget, eventually brought down the Berlin Wall, Soviet Union collapsed. And then I think we got lazy. We somehow replaced the just-in-time became the mantra and we didn't look at just-in-case. And the only good thing that I could say about COVID was it was a beta test if the supply chains got disrupted. And we saw that we don't... 90% of our medicines are made out of the country, much of that in China and India. Semiconductors, 97% of advanced semiconductors made on the island of Taiwan. We're seeing now critical minerals. Where have we been for the past couple of decades when these things got offshored? The steel industry, ship making. So, my message is that it's a combination of free markets, but we have to keep an eye on our national security. It's like I constantly say with China, we don't want to decouple, we want to de-risk.
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Interviewer3:23
Yes. You know, we're talking to Secretary of Treasury, not the Secretary of War. And for Americans to hear the Secretary of Treasury address security means it may not be intuitive, but so much of what your portfolio is really deals with national security. You were just talking about China, de-risking. We also have Iran. You're playing a very important role in the conflict with Iran. I think of it as there is the military operation Epic Fury, but there's operation Economic Fury, which you're leading.
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Scott Bessent3:51
Well, I think that the military accomplished an incredible operation over the 5 and a half, 6 weeks. When President Trump gave the order and our great military executed it, I think we accomplished 90% of what we could do then. And then with Economic Fury, we really made it painful for the Iranians to try to get out from under the sanctions regime. So at Treasury, we control the sanctions authority. Many people ask me in terms of the job, what's been your biggest surprise? I said that 40 to 60% is national security. And look, we are the reserve currency of the world. The US financial system, everyone wants access to it, and having access to it is a privilege. And if you violate the norms, whether it's human rights norms, whether it's sovereignty of other countries, whether it's you move against the interests of the United States, we have the power to try to bring you back into line, or you can feel the wrath of the US sanctions authority, which is very strong.
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Interviewer5:03
All elements of national power and I think it's one that everybody can get behind. Applying that capability that you lead in our Department of Treasury. My last question for you, we're sitting here of course Reagan Library, the Reagan National Economic Forum. You came of age during the Reagan era.
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Scott Bessent5:19
I did.
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Interviewer5:19
And you actually met President Reagan. You were sort of an early investor meeting him during the 1980 campaign. Would love to hear about that meeting and how Reaganism and Reagan's approach to governance and leadership impacts your leadership.
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Scott Bessent5:33
So I got to New Haven 1980, President Reagan running for president, and it was such an optimistic message after what had happened, the high inflation of the 70s. Jimmy Carter, he had that fireside chat where he said we're all basically managed decline. And Jimmy Carter was a nice guy, but President Reagan, I met him and it was just off of the Yale campus, five of us including Art Laffer's nephew was one of them. They saw him there in New Haven especially for Yalies, not a big Reagan-esque audience.
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Interviewer6:17
Could fill up a bus.
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Scott Bessent6:18
But I got to shake the future president's hand and I just turned 18 a month earlier when I saw him, and he was the first presidential candidate I ever got to vote for. So voted for him twice. I was part of the 1984 landslide, which we'll see if that's ever replicated. But again, it was hope, it was prosperity, and that's what we're trying to do now. And the real thing that I always try to get across is economic security is national security, national security is economic security, and no one knew that better than President Reagan.
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Interviewer6:57
Secretary Bessent, thank you so much for coming to the Reagan National Economic Forum and spending this time with us.
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Scott Bessent7:01
Good to see you.